Read an E-book Week

This week - March 7th -13th - is "Read an E-Book Week" at Smashwords, the foremost ebook publishing site. As regular readers will be aware, I've been exploring the strange, new world of ereaders recently by publishing an SF short story/novelette on the Kindle platform (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). But, of course, there's a lot more to ereaders than just the Kindle. The near-ubiquitous iPhone/iPad, for example, may well become the de facto standard for electronic book reading. For all I know. Smashwords provide one way to make your fiction available to iPhone users, as well as to users of a whole host of other devices. I'll post about what's involved in using their service soon.

But, for now, you might be interested in trying out an ebook. As part of the promotion, authors are offering their stories at a reduced rate, or even for free. So The Armageddon Machine, the SF story I've epublished (gods how I hate that e- prefix), is free to download and read via Smashwords for the read an ebook week. If you fancy giving it a go, you can download it here. Or you can just read it online, via your browser. You just need to enter the RFREE code at the checkout to get the story for free. If you do have a go, I'd love to know what your experiences are and how you feel about ereading generally - I'm mainly doing this just to find out how well the whole ething works.

Also feel free to comment on or review the actual story - either at Smashwords or over on Amazon if the Kindle is your thing ...





An SF novelette in the Golden Age tradition.

The last, battered remnant of the feared Draconian starfleet limps through space, shadowed by ships of the victorious Million Star worlds. But the Draconian ship is still a terrible threat : it is the Draconian's final weapon, a device that can trigger the cascading collapse of space/time itself.

Mackenzie, in charge of the Million Star fleet, fears what will happen if he attempts to destroy the device. Then, one of the semi-mythical Xin ancients arrives on his ship, suggesting a plan that appears to endanger all of reality. In the final battle with the Draconians, Mackenzie must decide whether to trust the Xin or not. The fate of the universe itself hangs on his actions ...



A beautiful story of trust and hope in dark times ... a masterful, compelling work, with deep themes underlying it that brush against life, eternity, and the meaning of existence.

- Keesa Renee DuPres, Tangent